Ebun Francis
Against the out cry and threats by the Nigerian Bar Association and other civil society groups, indications are that about eight more senior judges are under investigation for corrupt activities and abuse of office and may be arrested within the week.The identity of the affected eight judges are yet to disclosed but one of them is believed to be a supreme court Justice.
It will be recalled that the DSS over the weekend carried out a sting operation across the country arresting a number of supreme and High Court Judges. Those arrested and still in custody are Justice Sylvester Ngwuta and Okoro Inyang of the Supreme Court; Kabiru Auta of the Kano high court, Muazu Pindiga of the Gombe high court, Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, I. A. Umezulike, Chief Judge of Enugu State and Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin.
The arrest of the Judges drew mixed reactions from Nigerians, especially in the social media with many for and as many against.As expected the Nigerian Bar Association, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and a Civil Society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project( SERAP) weighed in favour of the Judges. The National Judicial Commission has meanwhile called for emergency meeting for Monday to deliberate on the development.
The DSS which has extended its dragnet to other Judicial workers working with the Judges and is expected to make more revelations within the week.